The Price of Love
by reckless-rage
Summary: Written for an online competition hosted by takari love. Watanuki doesn't have much good luck....but he doesn't have bad luck either. What is the price he has to pay to keep loving Himawari-chan? One-shot, spoilers for xxxHolic volume 10.


**My very first xxxHolic one shot, written for the competition advertised by takari love. Major (and I mean MAJOR) spoilers for xxxHolic volume 10, so if you haven't read it...well...there's the back button. Although this might not be considered spoilers, one never knows. It's safer to fling it right in the open. Supposed to be themed around 'good luck' but as usual, I screwed it up. Enjoy...or not. **

Watanuki-kun never had much good luck. He didn't have bad luck dogging his heels, either, unless he counted his ability to see ghosts and spirits. But overall, when Watanuki thought about it, he guessed he was pretty lucky, in a way.

He had met Yuuko-san. He'd never thought that he'd genuinely like the alcohol-loving time witch, but he admitted that the witch had pulled him out of many tight spots before. That would count as a good thing...if not for the fact that he had gotten _into _the tight spots because of Yuuko-san.

Then he had gotten to know Himawari-chan, which was _definitely_ a very good thing. From the day he had first met her, Watanuki had been quite smitten. Himawari-chan was clever, pretty and seemed to embody everything that Watanuki adored. She always had a smile for everyone, even for Watanuki, who could be considered the class loser just because he wasn't 'cool'.

So when Watanuki really got down into it, he considered himself quite fortunate after all. In fact, if Himawari-chan was around, he'd probably count himself as one of the luckiest person alive.

Until he found out the truth.

Watanuki could still feel the glass slicing through his skin, burning him with tiny fires of pain. He could still remember the sickening sensation of falling, falling from the second story of his high school, his body crashing to the ground along with showers of glass. He remembered the blinding pain that he had felt, even unconscious, and the terror he had experienced in the second world. The memories were still raw in his mind, and Watanuki didn't like it.

When he finally came to, he had fully expected to pay Yuuko-san's ludicrous price. To his immense surprise, he had come face-to-face with Himawari-chan.

Himawari-chan, the girl he had had a crush on for such a long time.

Hinawari-chan, the girl who was genuinely happy to spend time with Watanuki.

...Himawari-chan, the girl whose touch was enough to kill Watanuki.

But even then, as he stared at Himawari-chan as she indifferently described how anyone who had come close to her die, Watanuki realized that he really _did_ love Himawari-chan, bad luck or not. It was true that every meeting with her had ultimately injured, wounded or hurt him in some way, but he had survived all that, hadn't he? It had helped to make him slightly stronger, hadn't it?

"_Thank you for the lunches. They were really delicious...__**good bye.**"_

It was abrupt, and Watanuki was startled as Himawari-chan spun around, preparing to leave the room. She had probably counted on Watanuki being too stunned to stop her.

But Watanuki knew that he couldn't just let her leave, especially without saying anything. He saw, for a fleeting moment, that look of desolate emptiness in her eyes, and he knew, irrevocably, that he could never say goodbye to Himawari-chan in the way she had just did. Himawari-chan could reject him, hurt him, or hate him, but he could never do the same to her. He would follow her until she accepted him.

It didn't matter if Himawari-chan brought bad luck to everyone else. To Watanuki-kun, seeing her happy made _him_ happy. He considered the fact that he'd met her to be the happiest thing in his life.

And that was a good thing, wasn't it?

"_I love it best when I see Himawari-chan smile."_

**Quote from Watanuki-kun in xxxHolic.**

**xEndx**

**How was it? Weird? Odd? Typo extermination much welcome!**


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